Wednesday, 17 October 2012

Barack is Back

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He’s back.

Last night our president was articulate and forceful — in sharp
contrast to his performance in the first presidential debate. He stated
his beliefs. He defended his record. He told America where he wanted to
take the nation in his second term.

And he explained where Romney wanted to take us.

For example: “Romney says he’s got a five-point plan. Governor Romney
doesn’t have a five-point plan; he has a one-point plan. And that plan
is to make sure that folks at the top play by a different set of rules.
That’s been his philosophy in the private sector; that’s been his
philosophy as governor; that’s been his philosophy as a presidential
candidate. You can make a lot of money and pay lower tax rates than
somebody who makes a lot less. You can ship jobs overseas and get tax
breaks for it. You can invest in a company, bankrupt it, lay off the
workers, strip away their pensions, and you still make money.”

And:

“Governor Romney … was on ‘60 Minutes’ just two weeks ago, and he was
asked, is it fair for somebody like you, making $20 million a year, to
pay a lower tax rate than a nurse or a bus driver, somebody making
$50,000 a year? And he said, yes, I think that’s fair. Not only that, he
said, I think that’s what grows the economy. Well, I fundamentally
disagree with that.”

Obama told voters what Romney’s plan was for women (take away their
freedom of choice), and for Hispanics (allow police to stop them and
demand proof of citizenship, as in the Arizona law “that’s his
[Romney’s] policy, and it’s bad policy.”)

He took responsibility for the security lapse in Libya, but made sure
Americans understood the danger in Romney’s shoot-from-the-hip, rush to
judgment approach to foreign policy.

And the President explained why the way to create more jobs and to
get the economy back on track is to strengthen the middle class, in
sharp contrast to Romney’s trickle-down redux.

Romney was as combative as in the first debate, but our
newly-invigorated president made Romney’s combativeness look like that
of a child in a tantrum rather than a principled adult with facts and
detailed proposals to support his position.

Romney was also an automaton — moving robot-like across the stage,
repeating the same scripted paragraphs in answers to different questions
as if he had been programmed with a limited number of options.
Obama, by contrast, seemed steady and relaxed.

The debate left me relieved — the President’s performance will almost
certainly stop Romney’s momentum, and may turn the tide — but also left
me perplexed. Where was this Barack Obama in the last presidential
debate? Was it the altitude in Denver, a failure of preparation,
exhaustion, a temporary emotional glitch?
Mostly, though, I’m glad Barack is back.